Chapter 22. Alice
ALICE
The white lines of the highway blurred. Alice opened her window to get fresh air on her face, and rolled her head side to side, stretching her tight neck muscles.
Their headlights shone on two sets of eyes on the side of the road.
Racoons, probably. Whatever it had been was low to the ground, but elk, deer, and maybe mountain goats might cross the road at night.
If they hit something big, she would for sure lose control of the RV.
She needed to pay attention, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the boys at the Dairy Queen.
The smaller one would be okay, physically at least, but what about the older boy?
What if he died? Simon had ripped the phone out of the wall. How long until someone found them?
Alice peeked over at Simon, who still looked smug.
While Alice had gotten them back onto the highway, he’d stowed their disguises, then sat with Jenny and counted his haul.
Judging by his laughter, they’d done well, but not enough to pay for all the things they wanted.
They’d talked about what kind of car they should buy and decided on a station wagon.
They both wanted a big backyard and a TV.
Simon wanted a dog. To Alice, they were children playing house.
They had no idea how much their lives would change with a baby.
They were stuck together now. Their secrets, their crimes, would always be there. Stronger than any marriage vows.
“I’m too tired,” Alice said. “I shouldn’t be driving.”
“It’s only been like twenty minutes.”
“Yeah, but it’s almost midnight.”
“I’m tired too,” Jenny said. Alice glanced up at the mirror, and, spotting the milkshake cup still in front of her at the table, felt a fresh wave of anger.
“Fine. We’ll look for a spot,” Simon said.
When they came upon a turnoff, they followed the road until rough pavement changed to gravel and then crossed over a small bridge and a creek. They parked on the shoulder, where the road widened for vehicles to wait if another vehicle—or a logging truck—was already crossing.
Alice and Tom were barely given enough time to use the bathroom before Simon was binding them back together.
She wondered how full the gray-water tanks were getting, and if they would run out of clean water, but her thoughts drifted away as exhaustion, fear, and the adrenaline of the day caught up to her.
She was blissfully saved from it all until morning, when a chorus of forest birds began to sing outside their window.
After they had taken turns using the bathroom, Tom asked to sit at the table.
“I need to move around.”
Simon thought it over, then allowed it, but Tom’s hands and ankles had to be tied together.
Tom kept his anger in check and looked grateful to be sitting, though Alice knew he was still in agony.
There were only a couple of Tylenol tablets left in the bottle.
Jenny hadn’t gotten her vitamins yet. Maybe Alice would be able to convince Simon to stop at a drugstore.
Alice opened the box of Pink Panther Flakes that Jenny had purchased at the grocery store and poured them each a bowl.
Tom and Alice ate at the dinette, so she could assist him with his food, and the younger couple sat in the front seats.
Simon seemed to feel her gaze because he turned and looked at her.
She dropped her eyes and dipped her spoon into the milk.
“You’re going to help me drain the tanks after, Alice.”
She nodded, but she wasn’t going to say okay or yes or give any other signs of agreement. Everything she did was under duress, and she wanted there to be no mistake about that.
Simon was sitting sideways, his legs bouncing as he shoved spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth, one after the other.
He got to his feet and dropped the bowl into the sink with a clang.
He was clearly agitated about something.
Alice wondered if it was about the robbery the night before.
Guilt? Or fear of getting caught? To Alice’s surprise, he slipped behind the wheel and started the engine.
Jenny stopped eating. “What are you doing?”
Simon spun the dials on the radio. “I want to hear the news, see if there’s anything about the Dairy Queen.” When he got static on one station, he tried others, but he couldn’t get anything more than seconds of tinny-sounding songs and broken words before they turned to static.
He shut off the engine. “We need to go somewhere with better reception.”
The dishes were washed and put away, Tom was tied up on the bed again, and Alice and Simon, having drained the gray water—and other unmentionables—into a hole he had dug in the soft dirt, were back in the RV. Alice slid into the driver’s seat, and Simon into the passenger side.
“Jenny needs vitamins,” Alice said. “And we’re out of Tylenol.”
Jenny made a distressed sound in the back. “I forgot!” Alice glanced at her in the rearview mirror. The girl looked guilt-stricken.
“We’ll stop at the next town,” Simon said.
They reached Cranbrook a little while later. Larger than Kimberley, it was situated in a valley, and protected by the enormous Rocky Mountains, their peaks so sharp they looked like arrowheads angled toward the sky, painted in blue-and-gray shadows and brushed with white.
Redbrick buildings, with arched windows trimmed in stone and flat roofs, clustered together on the streets as though trying to keep warm in the bitter winters.
The sidewalks were decorated with concrete planters filled with flowers, and a brick clock tower stood proudly in the town center, overseeing all the comings and goings.
The morning sun was already blinding through the windshield, and Simon, noticing Alice’s squint, handed over her sunglasses.
The sweet cereal churned in her stomach.
She was the one who handed Tom his glasses.
She prided herself on always knowing where his belongings were.
It made her feel purposeful, an essential part of their relationship.
She did not want to be essential to Simon. She did not want him to recognize her needs. She wanted him gone. She glared at the road through her sunglasses.
They’d kept the radio on while driving, Simon switching stations so many times Alice wanted to smack his hand. There was nothing yet about the robberies. Alice hoped it would be on the news soon. She wanted people to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.
Alice drove the quiet streets until they found a corner drugstore set apart from the rest of the downtown core. The low-slung wood building had white-and-blue awnings on each side with neat lettering. Harris Family Drugstore. She slowed the RV as she passed in front of the store.
“Okay,” Simon said. “There’s an open sign.”
The parking lot was on the side of the building. Empty, for now.
She glanced at Simon. “Do you want me to pull in here?”
“No. Somewhere out of sight.”
One street over, they found another redbrick building with parking, except this one was a church with a pointed steeple and a white picket fence surrounding a small graveyard.
“Here,” Simon said.
Alice cast a sideways glance at Simon. Did he really want his murdering and thieving soul that close to a church? Simon made a quick, impatient gesture with his hand.
“Go.”
All right then. Alice parked the RV and sent up a prayer. Lord, if you can hear me, please send down a lightning bolt and strike this man before he can hurt anyone else.
Unfortunately, the sky stayed a peaceful blue. Jenny left the RV. She was probably only gone ten or fifteen minutes, but Simon’s leg bounced the entire time he watched out the window. When Jenny returned, she hopped up the metal steps, her body so slight the RV barely moved.
Simon turned his chair around to greet her. “Everything okay?”
“Yes. I got vitamins and Tylenol. Should I give Tom one now?”
“Please,” Tom said from the back. “Two.”
Jenny got a soda from the fridge for Tom and helped him take the pills. She brought the leftover soda to Alice and held it out. “You want it?”
What Alice wanted was for this girl to not be acting like Tom’s nurse. She took the soda and drank the cold liquid down.
Simon was staring out the windshield, his eyes narrowed. Alice was surprised he hadn’t told her to drive or start the engine. She glanced in her rearview mirror as Jenny got another bottle of soda from the fridge, then sat down at the table and took her vitamins.
“There’s a hose,” Simon said.
Alice followed Simon’s gaze to the side of the church, where a coiled hose lay on the ground below a red-handled tap.
“We should fill the water tank,” Simon said. “Pull up closer.”
Alice started the RV again, drove parallel to the church wall, leaving a few feet between them, and tried to line the tank up as she parked.
Simon reached over and took the keys out of the ignition. “Let’s go.”
Alice followed him outside. She unscrewed the cap that covered the water tank, while Simon turned on the tap and dragged the hose over.
The splashing sound of water softened as the level grew higher in the tank. When the tank was full, Simon shut the tap off. They were still outside the RV when a brown van turned sharply into the church lot and parked behind the RV, blocking them in.
“Shit,” Simon said under his breath. He slid his hand partway into his front pocket, jerked his head at Alice, and walked toward the rear of the RV. She moved to stand beside him.
The van was playing loud music that abruptly shut off. Alice couldn’t see the driver through the windshield, only the reflection of trees and blue sky.
The door opened and a tall, trim man got out, dressed in corduroy tan pants and a loose tunic-style shirt. His hair was golden blond, cut with straight bangs, and when he smiled, he showed a row of white teeth against tanned skin. He looked like a California beach boy.